Welcome to Anglesey
Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square is one of our best loved national monuments while Melville’s Monument in St Andrew’s Square in Edinburgh has been a focus for controversy in recent years over the nation’s role in the slave trade. Wales too has its own memorial column, a well loved landmark and a welcome to travellers over the Menai Bridge into Anglesey. Memorial columns have a peculiar place in British culture and, since The Historic Houses Foundation has a bit of a thing for isolated monuments, many of which are in a poor state of repair, the Foundation is often a rare source of funding.
The Marquess of Anglesey’s Column is an early example of a flurry of column building that really started in 1727, with the Column of Victory at Blenheim Palace. Like many of the columns built in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, The Marquess of Anglesey’s Column - Tŵr Marcwis to the locals - was funded by public subscription in 1817. Nearly two hundred years later, in 2007, local people were sufficiently concerned about its state of repair to form a Trust, chaired by the current Marquess of Anglesey, to raise funds to restore and maintain it. It was just in time; by 2012, the Column was in such bad repair that the route up 115 steps to the viewing platform had to be closed. At this point, the Historic Houses Foundation offered a grant which led in turn to other grants and to a successful National Lottery Heritage Fund bid. Jump forward to today and the Anglesey Column Trust have reopened a restored Column to visitors with a new café and visitor centre to tell the story. Every paying visitor will not only have an entertaining few hours and capture a panoramic view that is hard to beat but also be generating an income for the continued good health of the Column.
This spectacularly sited monument celebrates the British victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. The Marquess of Anglesey, whose family seat is at nearby Plas Newydd, had, as Lord Uxbridge, commanded 13,000 cavalry and 44 guns at Waterloo as second in command to the Duke of Wellington. In the battle, his leg was shattered by cannon fire as he stood close to his commander; he is reputed to have cried “By God, sir, I've lost my leg!", to which Wellington replied "By God, sir, so you have!". The Marquess’s amputated leg remained on display near the battlefield for several years and his ingenious prosthetic is still viewed by visitors to his home at Plas Newydd, now owned by the National Trust.
After the battle, the local community commissioned the architect Thomas Harrison to erect a commemorative column in the Doric style near the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll on Anglesey. It was completed in 1817 and rises to 27 metres, now topped with a bronze statue of the Marquess which was added after his death in 1860. It celebrates, not just the Marquess’ valour, but the landscape of North Wales. From the viewing platform at the top, visitors can enjoy far reaching views over the Menai Straits, the mountains of Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsular.
The column gives an important insight into the national acclaim for the heroes of Waterloo but also welcomes people to Anglesey, its loss would have been be a significant blow to local people and visitors to the region. Now a full visitor experience is on offer, manned by a team of local volunteers, for anyone with the puff to climb the steps to the top.
Images © Tony Starczewski, Anglesey Column Trust.
